Why did Donald Trump have to plan his funeral when he became President and which former Presidents are still alive?

The 70-year-old had a pretty grim task to complete during his first week in office

By SARAH BARNS

6th February 2018, 11:53 am

Updated: 6th February 2018, 11:55 am

DONALD Trump, 71, had a pretty grim task to complete when he stepped into the White House: planning his own funeral.

Get the lowdown on why this was on his to-do list, which Presidents have died in office and how many former Presidents are still alive.

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Donald Trump had to plan his funeral in the first week of his presidency

Why do Presidents have to plan their funerals?

Bradley Blakeman, who was Former President George W. Bush’s deputy assistant, said ceremony details need to be finalised early on in case anything happens during their tenure.

He told Elle Décor: “It may sound shocking, but during the first week of moving into the White House, the president is asked to plan his or her funeral should anything occur during their presidency.”

The funeral of an American president is soaked in rituals and tradition.

It usually lasts for five days and is meticulously choreographed.

The Military District of Washington will arrange the funeral with guidance from the family and instructions from the president on how elaborate the ceremony should be.

The president can chose to have a simple funeral or a full honour funeral where gunshots are fired in salute, drummers play and a flag is draped over the coffin.

The president’s body will lie in state for 24 to 72 hours, before being driven at 20 miles per hour to their final resting place.

Bloomberg via Getty Images

Donald Trump is serving as the 45th President of the United States of America

Which Presidents have died during their time in office?

Before the death of William Henry Harrison in 1841 - who passed away just 30 days after his inauguration - there was no established form for official mourning and funerals of presidents who died in office.

Alexander Hunter, a Washington merchant, was charged with arranging the ceremony.

He draped the White House and other official buildings in black - a tradition that has since been lost.

America has witnessed the deaths of four presidents over the past three decades and only three chose to have state funerals – Lyndon B. Johnson (1973), Ronald Reagan (2004) and Gerald R. Ford (2007).

Richard Nixon’s family opted to hold a simple service at the Nixon Library instead of a state procession.

In addition to presidents, anyone chosen by a president can have a state funeral.

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Former first lady Nancy Reagan, with Vice President Dick Cheney behind her, touches the casket of her husband, Ronald Reagan as he lies in state inside the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol

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